Adley Rutschman 2024

[OriolesMagic83]

4 hours ago, Baseball fandom said:

Yeah the Adley extension talk has certainly disappeared with this fan base and I agree no way should they offer him one now.  Wait and see what 2025 brings. Damn could of had Witt. Oh well 20/20 hindsight.

No crying over spilt milk.

[Baseball fandom]

31 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Buy low.

Sure, but I think Adley,'s camp will probably be thinking that the Orioles are trying to get him on a deal on their end coming off a down year. One would think he would want to bet on himself on a bounce back year . 

[Baseball fandom]

24 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

No crying over spilt milk.

No but man those 1-1 need to hit gold. I'm not writing Adley off by no means but it's tough seeing what Witt is doing right now. 

[Moose Milligan]

33 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

No crying over spilt milk.

No one's crying, but to think that we could have had Witt AND Gunnar...damn.  We would be looking at potentially an all-time great left side of an infield.  

I do not believe this is who Adley really is...I think there's a bit of a back issue going on.  I don't think he's his full self.

His new plate approach this year is awful and I'm not sure what that's attributed to.  I can't imagine a scenario where SIGBOT and others have told him to sacrifice his plate patience and OBP skills, yet here we are.

This said, I have to acknowledge the idea that his best years at the plate are already behind him.  That possibility does exist, unfortunately.  If that's the case, then it will be hard to watch Witt and wonder what could have been.  

We have to remember that Adley was the consensus #1 overall pick that year.  I'm sure if you went back and looked at all the publications from that year, there might be one or two writers that had Witt #1...and I'm sure there are some posters here that would tell you that "I had Witt over Adley!"

It's important to remember that Adley was the first pick that Elias made after arriving here.  Since then, we've seen him take Kjerstad when practically no one had Kjerstad linked to us at that slot.  He took Cowser at a pick when most projections had him being taken after us.  And, IIRC, in a year where there wasn't a consensus #1 overall pick, he took Jackson Holliday...I can't remember anyone saying Holliday was a chance to be the first overall pick in that draft.  

So Elias hasn't been afraid to think outside the box and draft a bit differently when the Orioles have had high picks in the first round.  It's mostly paid off...Cowser looks like he'll be a cornerstone piece...at least he'll be a very solid to sometimes great every day player.  Holliday looks like he belongs in his second go-round in the majors this year.  Kjerstad's issues have been bad luck, however he has his believers.  Let's not also forget that Elias was part of the braintrust in Houston that took Correa #1 when Mark Appel was considered the player to go #1 overall that year.

All of that is to say...I wonder if Elias picking Adley in his first year was him playing it safe for his new boss, the fans, etc.   I wonder if there's a part of Elias that had Witt rated higher than Adley, yet he knew that he had to make a good first impression on his new boss and he knew he had to give the fanbase something to get excited about and that played a part into taking Adley over Witt.  Had he been here for a year or two prior and already garnered the trust and support of Angelos and the fans...I wonder if he takes Witt instead.  

I've been thinking about that for about a month now, especially after looking at how he's drafted in the high pick territory every year after taking Adley.  Adley's selection at 1:1 is becoming somewhat of an outlier when it comes to Elias "being the smartest guy in the room," as some have derisively called him during this recent stretch.   I wonder if the smartest guy in the room really was dead set on taking an older college catcher over a hyper athletic and projectable high school shortstop #1.  

 

Edited September 2 by Moose Milligan

[Moose Milligan]

6 minutes ago, Baseball fandom said:

Sure, but I think Adley,'s camp will probably be thinking that the Orioles are trying to get him on a deal on their end coming off a down year. One would think he would want to bet on himself on a bounce back year . 

I was half kidding there.  I agree, I think he'd want to bet on a bounceback year.

[now]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

No one's crying, but to think that we could have had Witt AND Gunnar...damn.  We would be looking at potentially an all-time great left side of an infield.  

I do not believe this is who Adley really is...I think there's a bit of a back issue going on.  I don't think he's his full self.

His new plate approach this year is awful and I'm not sure what that's attributed to.  I can't imagine a scenario where SIGBOT and others have told him to sacrifice his plate patience and OBP skills, yet here we are.

This said, I have to acknowledge the idea that his best years at the plate are already behind him.  That possibility does exist, unfortunately.  If that's the case, then it will be hard to watch Witt and wonder what could have been.  

We have to remember that Adley was the consensus #1 overall pick that year.  I'm sure if you went back and looked at all the publications from that year, there might be one or two writers that had Witt #1...and I'm sure there are some posters here that would tell you that "I had Witt over Adley!"

It's important to remember that Adley was the first pick that Elias made after arriving here.  Since then, we've seen him take Kjerstad when practically no one had Kjerstad linked to us at that slot.  He took Cowser at a pick when most projections had him being taken after us.  And, IIRC, in a year where there wasn't a consensus #1 overall pick, he took Jackson Holliday...I can't remember anyone saying Holliday was a chance to be the first overall pick in that draft.  

So Elias hasn't been afraid to think outside the box and draft a bit differently when the Orioles have had high picks in the first round.  It's mostly paid off...Cowser looks like he'll be a cornerstone piece...at least he'll be a very solid to sometimes great every day player.  Holliday looks like he belongs in his second go-round in the majors this year.  Kjerstad's issues have been bad luck, however he has his believers.  Let's not also forget that Elias was part of the braintrust in Houston that took Correa #1 when Mark Appel was considered the player to go #1 overall that year.

All of that is to say...I wonder if Elias picking Adley in his first year was him playing it safe for his new boss, the fans, etc.   I wonder if there's a part of Elias that had Witt rated higher than Adley, yet he knew that he had to make a good first impression on his new boss and he knew he had to give the fanbase something to get excited about and that played a part into taking Adley over Witt.  Had he been here for a year or two prior and already garnered the trust and support of Angelos and the fans...I wonder if he takes Witt instead.  

I've been thinking about that for about a month now, especially after looking at how he's drafted in the high pick territory every year after taking Adley.  Adley's selection at 1:1 is becoming somewhat of an outlier when it comes to Elias "being the smartest guy in the room," as some have derisively called him during this recent stretch.   I wonder if the smartest guy in the room really was dead set on taking an older college catcher over a hyper athletic and projectable high school shortstop #1.  

 

You make a good case for that plausible scenario. Only Elias or an insider would know.

All the second guessing aside (why not? that's what we do here), I think Elias (and fans and the media spotlight) were all gaga over Adley until this latest tailspin. But as this season progressed, the two players' trajectories crossed dramatically (Witt up, Adley down); where before, Adley was in the lead, albeit 2 years older.

2022-23-24 WAR:

Adley 5.4, 4.3, 2.8
Witt 0.9, 4.4, 8.7

Can't turn back the clock, but can't dispute that Witt looks like the clear leader from here on in.

 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, now said:

You make a good case for that plausible scenario. Only Elias or an insider would know.

All the second guessing aside (why not? that's what we do here), I think Elias (and fans and the media spotlight) were all gaga over Adley until this latest tailspin. But as this season progressed, the two players' trajectories crossed dramatically (Witt up, Adley down); where before, Adley was in the lead, albeit 2 years older.

2022-23-24 WAR:

Adley 5.4, 4.3, 2.8
Witt 0.9, 4.4, 8.7

Can't turn back the clock, but can't dispute that Witt looks like the clear leader from here on in.

 

Nope, can't turn back the clock.  Even if Witt is doing what he's doing this year...if Adley's putting up a repeat 2023 performance, I wonder if we're having these conversations.  We might be, but not to this extent.

It also comes down to what do you value at that 1:1...a catcher?  Or someone that projects to be an up the middle infield talent, great speed, hyper athletic...who stands to have a longer career?  A longer peak?  If you're looking at it from that perspective, it's Witt...and it was Witt back then.  

My post admittedly glosses over that the Orioles started winning right after Adley was called up and the intagibles that he brings to the table.  IIRC, in early 2022, we were all fit to be tied on here, we were calling the Orioles a dumpster fire, etc.  That stopped after he was brought up and we registered a winning season.

[now]

19 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Nope, can't turn back the clock.  Even if Witt is doing what he's doing this year...if Adley's putting up a repeat 2023 performance, I wonder if we're having these conversations.  We might be, but not to this extent.

It also comes down to what do you value at that 1:1...a catcher?  Or someone that projects to be an up the middle infield talent, great speed, hyper athletic...who stands to have a longer career?  A longer peak?  If you're looking at it from that perspective, it's Witt...and it was Witt back then.  

My post admittedly glosses over that the Orioles started winning right after Adley was called up and the intagibles that he brings to the table.  IIRC, in early 2022, we were all fit to be tied on here, we were calling the Orioles a dumpster fire, etc.  That stopped after he was brought up and we registered a winning season.

Yeah, funny how the intangibles lost their flavor when the tangibles started declining.

[OriolesMagic83]

10 minutes ago, now said:

Yeah, funny how the intangibles lost their flavor when the tangibles started declining.

Adley is obviously hurt.  Something is not right with him.  Hopefully he'll get whatever is physically wrong with him fixed in the offseason, because he's been terrible the last 2 months and not the same player he was since he was called up.  Coincidentally (or not), the same 2 months that the Os have been mediocre to bad.  Witt is probably the superior player going forward, but I am not saying this is the new Adley.  Was the Yelich of a month ago the real Yelich hobbling around or was that Yelich fighting a back injury?  I don't know but Yelich is out for the season and he said it became too much to deal with and was affecting everything he did and now he is getting back surgery. 

[Too Tall]

I have no idea what's going on with Adley either except to say I've never seen a player with his talent and effect on a team go from star power to pedestrian this quick. So there has to be a cause other than age that we probably won't know about until the off season or beyond. If there isn't a cause, IMO we need more than a back-up catcher next year.

[joelala]

6 hours ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Adley is obviously hurt.  Something is not right with him.  Hopefully he'll get whatever is physically wrong with him fixed in the offseason, because he's been terrible the last 2 months and not the same player he was since he was called up.  Coincidentally (or not), the same 2 months that the Os have been mediocre to bad.  Witt is probably the superior player going forward, but I am not saying this is the new Adley.  Was the Yelich of a month ago the real Yelich hobbling around or was that Yelich fighting a back injury?  I don't know but Yelich is out for the season and he said it became too much to deal with and was affecting everything he did and now he is getting back surgery. 

Yelich’s career was completely derailed by his back issues. Let’s hope Adley’s are nowhere close in comparison. 

[survivedc]

7 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Nope, can't turn back the clock.  Even if Witt is doing what he's doing this year...if Adley's putting up a repeat 2023 performance, I wonder if we're having these conversations.  We might be, but not to this extent.

It also comes down to what do you value at that 1:1...a catcher?  Or someone that projects to be an up the middle infield talent, great speed, hyper athletic...who stands to have a longer career?  A longer peak?  If you're looking at it from that perspective, it's Witt...and it was Witt back then.  

My post admittedly glosses over that the Orioles started winning right after Adley was called up and the intagibles that he brings to the table.  IIRC, in early 2022, we were all fit to be tied on here, we were calling the Orioles a dumpster fire, etc.  That stopped after he was brought up and we registered a winning season.

The shame is that earlier this year it looked like he was going to cruise past his 2023 numbers. If my memory is right he was at 2+ WAR in May or early June. Have to hope that’s in the tank somewhere. 

[ScGO's]

Has there been any confirmation of a back injury? I need to know for my own sanity. What if he's 100% right now? 

[ScGO's]

Here's an idea everyone will hate. Do you roll the dice and sell high (kind of) on Adley?

With Basallo coming up, do we trade Adley for pitching? Resign McCann, have him mentor Basallo for a season as his back up.  

If Adley could bring in a Skubal+ or Crochet+ type return, is it worth considering?

 

[SilverRocket]